This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to conductive electronic device structures such as structures associated with antennas for supporting wireless communications.
Electronic devices such as cellular telephones and other devices often contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include, for example, cellular telephone transceiver circuits for communicating with cellular telephone networks. Wireless communications circuitry in an electronic device may also include wireless local area network circuits and other wireless circuits. Antenna structures are used in transmitting and receiving wireless signals.
To satisfy consumer demand for small form factor wireless devices, manufacturers are continually striving to implement wireless communications circuitry such as antennas using compact arrangements. At the same time, it may be desirable to include conductive structures such as metal device housing components in an electronic device. Because conductive components can affect radio-frequency performance, care must be taken when incorporating antennas into an electronic device that includes conductive structures. In some arrangements, it may be desirable to use conductive housing structures in forming antenna structures for a device. Doing so may entail formation of electrical connections between different portions of the device. For example, it may be desirable to form an electrical connection between internal device components and a conductive peripheral housing member. Electrical connection arrangements based on springs have been used to form such connections. Spring-based connections may be satisfactory in some situations, but pose challenges because they are generally not insulated from their surroundings and can be challenging to adjust during manufacturing. Springs also present the possibility of becoming loose during daily use, which could pose reliability challenges.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved arrangements for forming electrical connections with conductive structures such as conductive electronic device housing members.